Our Lenten study on Barbara Brown Taylor’s book, Learning to Walk in the Dark, concludes over dinner at church on Wednesday, 4/17, from 6:30-8:30 PM. The youth will join us for this evening of fellowship and conversation. We’ll meet in the church parlor. You can order books at The Boulder Book Store or online; youth […]
Read MoreAsh Wednesday, March 1, marks the beginning of the season of Lent. Plan to attend our 12 noon service, which is being planned by members of our church’s United Methodist Women (UMW) chapter. The service will include the burning of last year’s palms to produce the ashes which are then used for the imposition of […]
Read MoreOn Monday evenings during Lent (the time between Ash Wednesday and Easter), Keith Thompson is leading a discussion class titled “Experiencing God in the Bible: Bible Basics for Progressive Christians.” “The nature of the Bible is so widely misunderstood today that it’s difficult for progressive Christians to fully appreciate its crucial place in their lives,” […]
Read MoreLent, the 40-day period leading up to Easter, has a reputation for being somber and austere; indeed, beginning in the dark of winter it does seem to draw us toward serious reflection. But Lent can be a time of clarity, restoration, and energetic affirmation, precisely some of the things one experiences when “in love.” Through […]
Read MoreAsh Wednesday is the beginning of the season of Lent, the 40-day, reflective journey leading up to and through Holy Week, and finally to the joy of Easter morning. You are invited to Ash Wednesday services at First United Methodist Church of Boulder. Our church’s United Methodist Women chapter will host an Ash Wednesday service […]
Read MoreSunday, April 13th is Palm Sunday. At 10:00 am we will have our annual Pine Street Palm Sunday Processional complete with donkeys, palms and shouts of “Hosanna! Hosanna!” Plan on gathering along Pine Street around 9:45 am. At 10:30 am Pat’s Palm Sunday message will be What Is the Palm Sunday Story You Need This […]
Read MoreThe Joy of Easter is Within You! Focus Scripture: Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her. John 20:18 Easter by Madeline Wallace From moments of frustration to fulfillment From sleepless nights filled with Thoughts of the days’ […]
Read MoreFocus Scripture: So Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn in the rock. He then rolled a great stone to the door of the tomb and went away.
Matthew 27:59-60
What do we do with Holy Saturday? The first Holy Saturday was the Sabbath for our Hebrew ancestors in faith, who followed the historic Jewish rituals of their day with reverence and devotion. The Roman soldiers rested and relaxed; there was little trouble on a Sabbath.
Read MoreFocus Scripture: When Jesus had received the wine, he said “It is finished.” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
John 19:30
Jesus says, “It is finished,” and then he dies. For some of us, life is finished long before we draw our last breath. The best explication of this comes from The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in a sermon he delivered November 5, 1967, at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia:
Read MoreFocus Scripture: Jesus said,…“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
John 13:34-35
I love Fred Phelps, founder of independent Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas, and head of the church until he was excommunicated last year. Fred Phelps has been an outspoken hater of LGBTQ folks and has demonstrated at military funerals, harassing the families of slain soldiers and presenting God as a vengeful God. Still I love Fred Phelps.
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